West Shore revitalization projects target street appeal

Making Lemoyne “a destination, not just a drive-through,” is what business leader Keith Verner hopes is accomplished by the borough’s streetscape, which is about to undergo its second phase.

View full sizeBARBARA MILLER, The Patriot-NewsNew Cumberland is seeking a grant to extend streetscape improvements to the borough's Market Square.

“We have definitely made strides toward that by doing the streetscape. It makes people stop and look, which they didn’t use to do,” said Verner, president of the Lemoyne Business Association.

Project design is expected to start in a few months, with work anticipated to start by fall 2012, said Robert Ihlein, Lemoyne borough manager.

The next phase will extend Lemoyne’s streetscape west on Market Street to Lemoyne Middle School, and east toward the bottleneck at the Market Street bridge.

The $1.5 million project has a focus on safety, along with aesthetics, said Rebecca Yearick of the Cumberland County Redevelopment Authority, the project’s downtown business coordinator. The bulk of the funding is coming from a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation grant. Cumberland County is contributing $100,000 and the borough $80,000.

The Lemoyne project grew out of a regional comprehensive plan, in which Camp Hill and Wormleysburg also participated, with plans to link all three communities. But the other municipalities don’t have streetscape projects in the immediate future.

Wormleysburg Borough Manager Gary Berresford said the streetscape project is “on hold, due to lack of funds.”

He described the preliminary streetscape outlined in a regional plan as “very fancy. I don’t think it’s something we will build — it’s too grandiose.”

“We’re trying to hold the tax line for a couple of years. With the economy, we’re not going to burden the taxpayers at this time,” Berresford said, since the borough wouldn’t have the matching funds needed for a grant.

Berresford said Borough Council feels a streetscape is needed, but that it should wait until more funding is available.

In Camp Hill, Borough Council accepted the streetscape improvement plan in June 2010, but priority was given to completing a sewer project.

The Camp Hill portion of the plan includes proposals for shared and consolidated parking areas behind buildings, rain gardens, trees and plaza spaces, but does not propose roundabouts or traffic bump-outs.

The first phase of Lemoyne’s streetscape, finished last spring at a cost of about $570,000, had multiple objectives, Ihlein said.

They include “calming” traffic, safer pedestrian crossings and beautification.

Promoting transit ridership is a priority, Yearick said. Capital Area Transit, which has five stops on Market Street, is funding three “green” bus shelters along the route.

Increasing safety for pedestrians and bike riders in the area of the bottleneck is a concern, Yearick said, with sidewalks and bike lanes to be added.

A crosswalk will be added at the middle school.

While Ihlein said the streetscape changes haven’t been popular with some, he deems the project a success.

“The primary objective is to turn Lemoyne into a welcoming area to the West Shore. It used to look like the back door,” Verner said. “The long-term impact of whether it generates more business and growth remains to be seen.”

Sue Schaffner and her husband, Stanley, opened their Dippin Dairy business at 324 Market St. just before the streetscape project started in 2009.

“I feel like the streetscape ... has definitely improved the image of Lemoyne, absolutely,” she said.

The high traffic volume on Market Street is a plus, Ihlein said.

Lemoyne also should leverage its positives, Verner said. For example, it could promote the fact that it has numerous music stores, and could offer more community concerts, he said.

At JW Music, 331 Market St., manager Charles Kembring said Lemoyne has become a “one-stop shop” for music needs.

But he questions whether new sidewalks will have much of an impact on business. “There are too many more factors,” he said, adding that merchandise and service are more important to customers.

The closure of some businesses — such as Blockbuster and Lemoyne Sleeper — are more a reflection of the economy than anything in Lemoyne, Verner said.

Elsewhere in the midstate, work soon will start on a streetscape project in the West Fairview area of East Pennsboro Twp.

Contracts have been awarded, and work is expected to begin in mid-August and take 90 to 120 days to complete, said Debbie Thornton, township administrative assistant.

The two-block Second Street streetscape, estimated to cost $700,000 to $800,000, will “dress up” the downtown area and bring new crosswalks, plantings and streetlights.

New Cumberland is seeking a block grant of $95,000 to $115,000 to extend streetscape improvements to the borough’s Market Square, Mayor DJ Landis said.

The corner of Third and Market is in front of the newly refurbished Iroquois Hotel apartment building.

“We also are interested in going from Second Street to the bridge with our streetscape and lighting, matching what we’ve already done,” she said.

The previous work was done in 2009.

“I think it has greatly enhanced the borough,” Landis said. “It certainly has enhanced the businesses that are there. I can’t honestly say that’s the reason business choose to come.”

While not a streetscape project, Mechanicsburg used a Safe Routes to Schools grant of nearly $1 million to improve crosswalks and sidewalks near several schools, Borough Manager Patrick Dennis said.

In 2007, the borough installed new traffic signals and made sidewalk and crosswalk improvements in the downtown, he said.

There is merit in streetscape projects, Dennis said, “but it’s difficult to justify to the tax base when you have to raise taxes to do it.”

Mechanicsburg has aging infrastructure to take care of first, he said. Dennis also takes a dim view of “bumpouts” used in many streetscape projects, which extend sidewalks into the parking lane at intersections to make crosswalks more visible. They are expensive and make it difficult to plow snow in winter, he said.

Dillsburg finished its streetscape project last fall, which included new sidewalks, lighting, benches and planters.

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